Cook: A quality team is going to miss out

With 10 games remaining for Wigan, they sit in second-place with 77 points following their 2-0 win at Bury on Saturday.

They have two games in hand to Shrewsbury who are top with 78 points and one in hand over Blackburn who sit in third on 76 points.

While that means that Latics’ destiny is in their own hands though, it also means that there’s a strong possibility that one team will finish on more than 90 points and not go up.

“I just wish Shrewsbury or Blackburn would go away,” joked Cook after seeing Nick Powell and Chey Dunkley score either side of half-time at Gigg Lane.

“I think the rest of us would be quite happy then because you’ve got three teams who are having an exceptional season.

“Unfortunately someone will miss out (on automatic promotion) and that could well be us.

“There’s loads of football to play, (Blackburn boss) Tony Mowbary knows that, I’m sure (Shrewsbury boss) Paul Hurst knows that.

“The disappointing thing for us all is that someone is going to get a lot of points and probably won’t go up.

“The reality is that no-one knows how this run-in will end but I wouldn’t swap our place with anyone that’s for sure.”

Cook was delighted with his side’s commitment on a tough afternoon in Bury.

Despite being rock-bottom, the hosts were no push-overs for Latics and were the better side right up until the visitors took the lead after 26 minutes.

But Wigan dug deep and, with playing conditions not the best, they had to mix up how they attacked struggling Bury to pick up the three points.

“I’m really pleased with them,” said Cook. “You’ve only got to look at the pitch, it was never going to be a great football game; it’s about results, we’re at that stage of the season.

“We’ve put three wins together on the bounce in the league, away from home we’re doing really well.

“We’ve got five at home now and five away, 10 games to go, we’ve got 77 points, how many can we get? That’ll be the challenge.”